Sourland, Sweet Music

The hills are alive with the sounds of Amfibian, Bliggins and Goines, Earwax, and other musicians in support of land preservation.

By: Susan Van Dongen

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Amfibian is comprised of Montgomery resident and former Phish lyricist Tom Marshall, vocals; John Korba, keyboard; Anthony Krizan, guitar; and John and Kevin Hummel, rhythm.


   If Tom Marshall’s wildest dreams were to come true, his group Amfibian might plug in the kind of production and lighting Genesis founder and solo musician Peter Gabriel employs in his live shows. So you’d have the Montgomery Township resident and father of two disappearing into a giant blue egg, flinging himself across the stage or "packing" the band into a suitcase.
   "I went to an extreme with Peter Gabriel, I really followed him," Mr. Marshall says, talking about his influences. "If he breaks even on tours that would be amazing, because his productions are so elaborate. The stage changes for every song. I still go to see him in concert because it’s a mind-blowing event."
   It’s unlikely, though, that Mr. Marshall will find himself being suspended from wires, singing upside down, as Mr. Gabriel did on his last tour. But Amfibian will not be just a bunch of uninspired guys playing to an indifferent club crowd. Mr. Marshall has some creative staging ideas to go with the group’s imaginative sound and witty lyrics.
   "I’d love to have more tour support, good lighting, maybe with a projector behind me showing things on the screen, appropriate to the music," he says. "One thing that we do now is to come out in the middle of an electric set, just me, John (Korba) and Anthony (Krizan), and do an acoustic set. The audience seems to love having an ‘ear’ break from the electric. It’s a complete channel change."
   Things will be a little different when Amfibian headlines the Sourland Music Festival at the Hillsborough Golf and Country Club July 21. The group will play twice: acoustic set at 5 p.m., followed by an electric set around 10 p.m. Also slated to perform at the festival are Bliggins and Goines, Ten Foot Tall with Jim Popik, Earwax, John Sonntag, and Casey and the Broken Hearts.
   The festival celebrates the culture and music of the ecologically unusual Sourlands, which might be called "the Pine Barrens of central New Jersey." It’s a celebration of an area whose remoteness and mystery attracted such residents as George Bernard Shaw, Charles Lindbergh and John Hart, a signer of the Declaration of Independence. Money raised by the festival will support the Sourland Planning Council.
   It’s perfect timing for Mr. Marshall and Amfibian, since the band just released its third CD, Skip the Goodbyes (Relix Records) and is planning a tour. Recorded in Mr. Krizan’s Sonic Boom Studios in Raritan, it’s the most polished Amfibian project to date, according to Mr. Marshall.
   In the last decade, Amfibian’s lineup has shifted but has now settled on a solid quintet consisting of Mr. Korba on keyboards, with a rhythm section of John and Kevin Hummel, along with Mr. Marshall on vocals and Mr. Krizan (Spin Doctors, Lenny Kravitz, Noel Redding) on guitar. Skip the Goodbyes is an agreeable, dynamic mix of classic and sometimes hard rock, Mr. Marshall’s trademark lyrical wit and nods to the Beatles. And although they haven’t deliberately been written this way, there are several songs on the album that could be stretched into some premium live jams.
   "Our core fans are Phish fans, so they’ll be looking for jams," Mr. Marshall says. "We have a lot of material, in fact it was hard to get it down to 13 songs. We have enough left over for another CD, but we’ve also been writing a lot of new material."
   Mr. Marshall was the longtime, prolific lyricist for Phish and a childhood friend of Trey Anastasio — they attended Princeton Day School together. Although there have been rumors of a Phish reunion, Mr. Marshall says "…even insiders don’t know. It seems like Amfibian will be my main thing now."
   (Incidentally, Mr. Anastasio makes a guest appearance on Skip the Goodbyes, adding a guitar passage to the title track.)
   It’s the first time Amfibian has a label supporting the group — the other CDs were self-released. Mr. Marshall says Relix Records is an offshoot of Relix Magazine, which started out in 1974 as Dead Relix, chronicling all things Grateful Dead. The publication brought Phish and other jam bands into the fold and more recently has expanded its coverage to include a variety of musical genres.
   "It’s a very focused music magazine, but it doesn’t forget its jam band roots," Mr. Marshall says. "There are two main guys involved in the magazine and the label. Steve Bernstein always loved music and came onboard (as publisher) after a successful career on Wall Street. Then he hired Jonathan Schwartz (currently marketing director of the magazine and general manager of Relix Records).
   "They have a very nice open book policy — they know my history and Anthony’s history and that contributes to the relaxed atmosphere," he adds. "I knew the guys at Relix through Phish so I gave them an early version of the album and they really liked it, they wanted to get behind Amfibian and help us out. It’s literally a handshake agreement. We’ve had no lawyers, all the agreements are verbal and it’s been wonderful. They keep joking that they’ll have a new label called ‘Handshake Records.’"
   In addition to Mr. Gabriel, Mr. Marshall lists the Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin as influences. An older sister turned him on to Robin Trower as well as early ’70s progressive rock like Yes and Gabriel-era Genesis.
   "The Beatles have always been my favorite band, though, then and now," he says. "Elliott Smith is also up there. I love his music. I can probably listen uninterrupted for five hours."
   Mr. Marshall, whose day job is as a realtor for Simone Realty in Lawrenceville, says life as a rocker has changed since becoming a father to two children, ages 13 and 10.
   "Being a dad is a full-time job, and when you have kids sometimes it’s hard to find time (for creativity), but the great thing is, the kids are really supportive and really into the music," he says.
   Still in the mindset of writing an album — not just individual songs that can be downloaded — Mr. Marshall likes to close the book on certain periods of creativity. Once an album has been written and recorded, he likes to move on to entirely new ideas.
   "I’ll always be writing an album in my mind and then progressing to the next thing," he says. "Each CD has a new feel. We like to turn the page and move on. There’s the ‘Skip the Goodbyes’ era and then there’s whatever the new music will be. It’s like being a novelist — the author draws a line, then steps over it when the book is done and doesn’t look back."
Amfibian will perform at 5 and 10 p.m. at the Sourland Music Festival at the Hillsborough Golf and Country Club, 146 Wertsville Road, Hillsborough, July 21. Festival runs 4 p.m.-11 p.m. and also includes Bliggins and Goines, Ten Foot Tall with Jim Popik, Earwax, John Sonntag, and Casey and the Broken Hearts. Tickets cost $10 adults, $7 for children 12 and under, free for children under 5. Bring a blanket or lawn chair. (609) 333-0852; www.sourlandmusicfest.net. Sourland Planning Committee on the Web: www.savethesourlands.org. Amfibian on the Web: www.amfibian.com